Fianna Fáil’s spokesperson for the Irish overseas previously told The Irish Post that the Government must respond to the mass exodus by giving the Irish abroad a voice in the Oireachtas rather than just a “tokenistic” vote for its President.

When quizzed about extending voting rights to the Irish abroad, Minister Hayes said: “If you read the Irish Constitution, the distinction between the Irish State and the Irish Nation is clear.

“The President of Ireland, under the Constitution, is supposed to represent the Irish Nation and the Irish Nation of course is a much bigger concept than the 26 counties of Ireland.”

He added: “I am on record in the past as arguing why I think it would be a good idea that we would extend voting rights for Presidential elections to Irish passport holders in other jurisdictions. And I am still of that view.”

But his support for the movement stops there. Asked if the Irish abroad need some kind of voice in the Dail, the minister said: “The Irish abroad is not a homogenous group. The Irish abroad are made of people of the left, of the right, of the centre and everything in between.

“The great thing with social media today is that people are really at home in terms of making their views known about what the Irish Government is doing. I do not see that as a problem quite frankly.”

The minister’s view is opposed by Fianna Fáil’s Mark Daly, who described the extension of Presidential voting rights as a “bare minimum”.

Arguing that emigrants also need political representation, the senator said: “The President is not able to act as freely as a person who is democratically elected to represent the Irish overseas and be a voice for them inside Leinster House and say things that are unpopular and unpleasant for the Government to hear.”

Ireland is one of just four of the EU’s 28 member states that do not let their citizens abroad vote in Parliamentary elections at home.

The Constitutional Convention, a 100-person body charged with updating Ireland’s 75-year-old Constitution, will debate giving voting rights to the Irish abroad this weekend.

Irish in Britain, formerly known as the Federation of Irish Societies, argues in its submission to the Convention that all Irish citizens should be given voting rights in Presidential elections.

Those registered to vote in an Irish constituency should be entitled to vote in all Irish elections up to 15 years after emigrating, it adds.

Another lobby group, Votes for Irish Citizens Abroad, argues that those who leave Ireland should never lose the right to vote in elections at home.

An irish minister has said that the Irish abroad do not need a voice in Leinster House because they have social media

Despite his stance on voting rights, Mr Hayes reacted passionately when asked whether the Irish Government is out of touch with the concerns of those forced to leave their home country.

As well as his three younger cousins who recently left Ireland because they could not get the job they wanted, the minister said he sees the impact of emigration constantly when performing his duties as a TD for Dublin South-West.

“I represent a constituency which has seen the rate of unemployment more than double in the last four years,” he explained.

“I know that. I see it in my clinics, I meet it in my community, I live in a housing estate like ordinary other people, so I see it all around me, and I know the impact it has on families.”

He added: “I also know that our country has put an enormous investment in education, from primary school, post-primary school, third-level education, 20 years of an investment into young people and it is no future that that investment is then lost to other countries.”

The Minister went on to admit that the Irish abroad were an “important” part of Ireland’s strategy for economic recovery and that networks formed by those out of Ireland were a “crucial first trigger”, allowing Irish Government agencies to attract international businesses and investment.

Yet, while claiming the Government is ‘prioritising job creation’ at present, Mr Hayes was unwilling to suggest any targets for the reduction of emigration from Ireland.

“It would be “simplistic and wrong to present that as something any Government could ever achieve by itself,” he said.

4 Comments

This poor guy really doesn’t know where next to put his foot in it. I give him 10 out of 10 for trying to be noticed unfortunately its for all the wrong reasons.
Ireland is our homeland that we have had little choice in having to leave for work as the present have done nothing more than deliver the next empty promise.
Nothing is changing at home but one day some of us would like to come home and I believe we have a right as to the direction our Country is taken.
We are of course welcome to come to spend at the gathering but after that – be off with you, your not needed here!

There is a real danger to giving us, Irish abroad, the vote in the Dail election. I have lived in England for over 40 years and I know which politicians to vote in. However I no longer know who should be elected in my home city of Dublin and I feel it would be very unfair of me to vote for a party, who might not suit the needs of the local voters.
Another real worry is that, if you give the Irish in England a home vote, the the American Irish will demand the same and I to not know who runs America, the Americans or Israel. Who is the dog? Who is the tail?
Maybe there is an alternative ie to give the vote to Irish people, who go to live abroad for the first year only.